Indian ADRs underperform; Alcatel-Lucent gains

PolyaLesova

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S.-listed stocks of foreign companies edged higher on Friday, tracking a skittish performance on Wall Street, but shares of Indian companies sold off following a big decline on the Mumbai stock market.

The Bank of New York India ADR Index fell 3.6% to 1,091.32. In Mumbai overnight, the benchmark Sensex dropped 2.8% to close at 13,632.53 points.

The Bank of New York Composite ADR index was up 0.1% at 172.70.

The Bank of New York Europe ADR index rose 0.2% to 172.65, while the Asian ADR index fell 0.5% at 164.18 and the Latin America ADR Index dropped 0.7% at 290.97.

In New York, U.S. stocks pulled back after the market's recent highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, +0.72%
was last down 50 points at 12,635.07.

Among individual shares, most Indian companies posted losses, tracking the performance in their home market on uncertainty ahead of the annual budget speech next week. Further measures to control inflation are likely to be announced, analysts said.

"As the budget is approaching a lot of speculation is arising," analysts at Khandwala Securities said in a note. "It is advisable to wait and watch and rely upon the fundamentally good stocks. It seems that the market is heading towards the post budget rally."

On Thursday, Microsoft was ordered to pay more than $1.5 billion to Alcatel-Lucent after a federal court in California ruled that Microsoft infringed two Alcatel-Lucent patents in using the MP3 format for playing digital music on its Windows Media Player device. See full story.

The ruling could pave the way for Alcatel-Lucent to seek compensation from other makers of products for MP3 files, such as Apple Inc
AAPL, +1.63%

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